Not the Same
by Goth Albino Angel
Summary: After what happened in Edolas, Lucy begins receding from her girlfriend. Erza goes to her in an effort to learn the reason. ErLu!


_**I, in no way shape or form, own Fairy Tail. Simply the plot of this fic**_ _ **.**_

 _ **So, I saw the Edolas arc in the Japanese original of Fairy Tail and considering my main Fairy Tail pairing is Erlu, it kind of made me ache a bit to see the interactions between Knightwalker and Lucy. So, there's this because of that. Enjoy!**_

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It had been a few weeks since they returned to Edolas. The rest of the guild didn't mind that they had been turned to lacrima, since their friends had helped them escape from being an explosive. All seemed well once more now that the group no longer had to worry about the Anima trying to steal magic from their world. Natsu, Gray, Happy, Carla, Gajeel and Wendy were fine with what had happened, especially since Natsu and Happy were once again reunited with Lisanna. Carla now understood what had happened and was thankful that she hadn't been set up to kill her best friend. Gajeel was just happy to have an Exceed of his own.

However, there were two members who had been involved in the Edolas ordeal that were not feeling at ease with being returned to their own dimension. Erza watched her girlfriend carefully over the following days after their return from the alternate world. Lucy had become more closed off to her. The blonde still acted the same around everyone else in the guild, as if the ordeal hadn't happened, but anytime she was around Erza, she would grow more subdued and barely interact with the warrior. Erza was unsure of what had caused it, but it was breaking her heart to know that Lucy barely even acknowledged her existence anymore.

A week or two after the incident, Erza had come over just to cuddle with her girlfriend, wanting to be close to Lucy after being shut out for so long. However, Lucy rejected the contact, mumbling about being ill. Erza watched her love's eyes turn away and finally felt her emotions snap.

"Lucy, please talk to me." she asked.

"There's nothing to talk about." the blonde replied airily.

"Lucy?" Erza stared at the blonde, hurt. "What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing." Lucy whimpered, not looking at her.

"I must have." Erza persisted, tears brimming her eyes. "You… you're not the same around me. You haven't been since we got back from Edolas. Was my performance fighting in the other world unsatisfactory?"

Lucy bit her lip, still refusing to look at the redhead. She knew she should tell her, but it was difficult, being the one to break Erza all over again. She didn't want to hurt the redhead, but it was something she had to deal with alone. It had happened to her, so she was going to heal the wounds created. Erza had no idea…

Erza stared at her girlfriend, concern and fear covering her expression. She was unsure of exactly what was going on, but Lucy had never rejected her this harshly before. Certainly there had been the small punishments like no cuddling for a few days because she beat up someone who might not have deserved it, but this? Lucy was flat-out refusing her, not even bothering to look in her direction. All the armored Wizard wanted to know was… what had she done wrong?

After several more seconds of silence, Erza lowered her head with a nod. "Understood." she whispered, forcing the tears back for now. "I will have my things moved out by tomorrow."

"W-what?" Lucy turned slightly, hearing the hard footsteps as Erza began to leave.

"I'm sorry for whatever it was I did to create such unease for you." the redhead murmured. "I will… I'll leave you alone from now on. But… if it's alright with you… I would still like to be on your team."

Lucy turned completely and reached out, shouting, "Erza, wait!" The warrior paused at the door, not turning back as she waited. "Please, it's really not your fault."

Slowly, Erza turned back and looked at her closely. Lucy recoiled immediately, remembering those eyes, that smile, the pleasure written in every contour of _her_ face… Erza noticed the instant decline in the blonde's confidence and nodded, remaining by the door.

"It was her, wasn't it?" she inquired quietly. "The other Erza, Knightwalker?"

Lucy lowered her head, closing her eyes and nodding. "She…"

"What happened?" Erza asked, still not stepping forward. She longed to embrace her beloved, but feared another rejection would ensue if she got too close. For now, she would have to discover answers from the 'safety' of the doorway. "What happened between the two of you?"

Lucy grit her teeth together, knowing that it was something she should definitely inform her girlfriend on. If she didn't, Erza would take blame on herself for something her counterpart had done. The weight of that shame would rest on the warrior's shoulders and she wouldn't even deserve it. _I won't let her do that to herself!_ Lucy vowed, lifting her head.

"She tried to kill me." the spirit mage whispered, tears falling to the bedsheets. "She picked me up by the cuffs on my hands and swung me over a ledge. She said she was going to kill me, that she had killed several Fairy Tail Wizards in the past." Bare fists clenched the sheets furiously as Lucy stared at her hands in sheer rage. "And she smiled. She said she was going to kill me, with your voice and your face, and she _smiled_ about it! She told me that suffering was what she lived for, that it was her favorite thing. And she grinned when she threw me off. I was falling… and the last thing I would have seen… would have been your face laughing at my death."

Erza felt utterly defeated. She had no way of easing a fear like this one. It may not have been her that had caused Lucy such distress, but it had been a visage of her. For all she knew, her girlfriend could have been having nightmares about the ordeal the entire time since they returned. Not only that, but keeping her distance must have been hard on Lucy too, in order to try working through the pain herself. _She's too noble for her own good sometimes._ the warrior thought fondly, requipping into her pajamas and walking forward.

Lucy slowly lifted her head, not quite looking at her love. Erza slid onto the bed with her and took the smaller form in her arms. The redhead snuggled close to the soft body, enjoying the feel of the smooth skin against her own battle-roughened body. Glancing down, auburn eyes surveyed the object of her affection for a moment.

"Lucy, look at me." Erza commanded softly.

Slowly, Lucy grit her teeth and forced her head up, her eyes meeting the auburn ones of her girlfriend. As she looked into those eyes, though, she didn't see any malice or bloodlust. Starting in surprise, the blonde pulled back slightly to look at her girlfriend completely. The smile on Erza's face wasn't evil or malevolent; it was warm and soft, shining gently down at her. And it wasn't _her_ smile.

 _That's right._ Lucy told herself with a deep breath. _That Erza… she's not **my** Erza. My Erza loves me and would do anything to protect me._ Taking another deep breath, the blonde smiled shyly up at the redhead. "I-it's going to take a little time to get over it." she murmured.

"And I will be with you every single second." Erza promised, nuzzling her cheek into the soft tresses affectionately.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you." Lucy mumbled.

"As it was I who was causing you pain, it's understandable." Erza tightened her arms around Lucy just slightly. "Don't worry, though. I'm just glad I know what's wrong. Let's get some sleep."

Lucy snuggled into the muscular frame and slowly drifted off with the warrior. Later into that night,Erza awoke to find Lucy shifting uncomfortably, her eyebrows knitting together with the signs of a nightmare. Leaning down, the redhead nuzzled their cheeks together, running her fingers soothingly over the smaller woman's back and shoulders. Gradually, Lucy calmed from the nightmare andErza smiled, kissing the top of her love's head before sinking back into sleep as well.

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 ** _And there you go. I really enjoy thinking of sweet things for these two. Drop me a review and tell me what you think!_**


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